One new thing ...

 

 My One New Thing for this week was cooking with parsnips and also trying a new chowder recipe.  Now I have tasted parsnips (my dad used to love them, and someone recently included them in a crockpot dish at church), but I have never bought them or cooked with them that I can remember.  

But I was tempted by this recipe in Yankee magazine for Roasted Winter Vegetable and White Bean Chowder.

You can see all five featured chowder recipes here in this article: In the Thick of It.   I changed the recipe a whole lot, and also adapted it to make in a slow cooker,  so I will write it down as I prepared it.  If you prefer to try the recipe and method as written, by all means do that.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

• 3½ cups diced butternut squash

• 2½ cups sliced carrots

• 2 cups diced russet potatoes

• 1 cup sliced parsnips

• 2 tablespoons plus 3 tablespoons olive oil 

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

• 3 cups diced onion

• 1 cup diced celery

• Dried thyme to taste
  

• Dried rosemary to taste 

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons flour (all-purpose or gluten-free)

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 2 (14-ounce) cans great northern beans, drained

• Half-and-half to taste
  

• Fresh thyme springs and ground paprika or smoked paprika, for garnish, optional
  

Instructions

Heat your oven to 425°. In a large bowl, toss the butternut squash, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Divide these vegetables between two large rimmed baking sheets and roast until tender and browned, about 40 minutes, turning them a few times while roasting. 

While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the soup base. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, then add the onion, celery, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, black pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt, then cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 6 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Place the roasted vegetables in a slow cooker. Stir in the soup base you have prepared. Cook on Low for several hours.  Stir in half-and-half to taste.  Serve hot, garnished with fresh thyme sprigs and a sprinkle of paprika if desired.  I didn't bother.

 This made a lot of chowder! We ate it for at least three meals and I finished it off for lunch yesterday.  It was really delicious.  I did have to add more broth when we reheated it, but that was fine.  

 But what about the parsnips, you ask?  I chose to use them because I thought perhaps roasting would make a difference as it does with many other vegetables.  It really didn't mellow their flavor much.  I suppose if I had used the fennel bulb it called for, that might have disguised the parsnip flavor.  We aren't huge fans of fennel (other than fennel seed in pizza, etc.) so I chose not to spend the money on that.

I will definitely make this chowder again, but my opinion of parsnips really hasn't changed.  I can take them or leave them, and next time I will leave them out.  Being in the current mode of not wasting any food if I can help it, I'll find a creative use for them.  And that may be another new thing!